Ornamental Pear
Ornamental Pear, Bradford Pear
Pyrus calleryana
Rosaceae (Rose Family)
▲ mature cultivated plants, showing characteristic pyramidal shape
▲ ▼ flowering plants in spring
▲ fall color of ornamental planting
▲ flower buds (tan, fuzzy) and leaves
▲ ▼ fruit (about 1/2 inch diameter)
wild seedlings invading an open field ▲ ▼
▲ ▼ thorns on root sprout trees
stout, thorn-like spurs on wild plants and rootstock sprouts (▲ above 3 photos)
▲ flowering wild seedlings along a highway
▲ rootsprouts from cut tree-- has thorns (shown on fence rail above)
▲ ▼ red fall color on trees along highway (above) and edge of pasture (below) in southwest Missouri
▼ (below 3) Ornamental Pears didn't fare well after January 2007 ice storm in Springfield, MO
Ornamental Pear: (not in Weeds of the Great Plains; not in Weeds of the Northeast)
- Medium-sized tree, often branched near the base, with glossy, heart-shaped leaves and clusters of white, fragrant (some think not good-smelling) flowers in spring, followed by small (1/2" diameter) brown, rough-textured fruit
- Can only produce fruit if two different cultivars are grown within pollination distance of each other
- Commonly planted as an ornamental, but tends to experience branch splitting after 15-20 years of age, in windstorms or ice storms (often destroys above-ground portion of tree)
- Root sprouts (after top damage) or seedlings often have stout thorns
- Becoming invasive in central U.S.; can germinate in dense vegetation (pastures, roadsides, prairies, savannahs, fallow fields) and can flower within 5 years of germination; is not easily killed by fire or herbicides once stem is 1 inch diameter